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Not a mother’s day post

A few days back, after we came back from an outing, the husband started watching something on laptop and I had to get started on chores again because everyone would soon get hungry and there would be nothing to eat if I didn’t cleanup and cook. It was a holiday Monday and the husband and the friend (house guest) had office next day, so lunches were in order too. So I gave Baby A something to snack on and got to work. I was in the middle of cooking when the husband, while passing by, kissed my cheek and said “you do so much work”. Now he isn’t the kind that goes on handing out compliments or saying nice things just to make me feel good. I jokingly asked him to get straight to what he wanted to ask. He said that lately he started noticing how much I work and how I’m pretty much on 24/7. I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t. I’m not very good at handling compliments (I know, we are a great match), but I felt a gooey-mushy feeling inside that is indescribable. It was his way of showing appreciation and saying that he does know that I work long and hard at home. So thank you husband.

I remember another instance, where I was flying alone long distance(India – Australia) with a 9 month old baby. As we were about to land, the lady sitting next to me (who I thought would be cursing me for a baby who didn’t want to sleep on the longer flight after transit) just casually mentioned to me that I was doing a good job taking care of the baby all on my own and that it will all be alright. It made me feel so much better despite the sleeplessness, fatigue and the effort of holding down a jumpy baby for landing. Thank you dear lady whose name I obviously don’t remember now.

I don’t care for mother’s day or any particular day (on those lines) for that matter. But if there ever was a best wish for mother’s or wife’s or women’s or people’s day, it is the appreciation you show for that person. It is in those moments, that I feel what I am doing isn’t mundane. That it isn’t just staying at home and doing nothing. It isn’t just chores and taking care of the baby. It is making a home, making a family, a balancing act. It is work. A lot of hard work that never ends.

I’m not saying this to raise myself and other stay at home mothers on a pedestal. I’d hate it if someone said what I’m doing is great and is the best any woman could do. I know it is great, but so is what any other person is doing, in his/her own capacity. But if you just showed a little appreciation for the next person, any person, it would help just that little bit in overcoming their own apprehensions. In feeling a little bit better in their lives. Same goes for mothers, both staying at home as well as working, they both deserve to be appreciated as neither is any less than the other. You cannot compare the both of them and what they do for their families.